Dive Stories From Back In The Day?

[DebbyDiver]

A high school buddy was the cook on the Impossible Dream until they ran it into the NW Channel marker in the middle of the night returning from the Bahamas.

OOPS

 

[fisheyeview]

Norine Rouse attended part of my NAUI ITC back in the day. Grand old lady.

I wasn't at UnderSeas Sports when Chuck started it, but I worked for the second owners for most of the time that they owned it. Who remembers Bryan and Mary Brooks and their kids? Most people thought I was one of their kids as well. Great memories.

I was also one of Slate's first customers, bought some stuff from him back in '78 when he first opened.

OK now I feel old!!!

Didn't there son work for Horizon Divers a few years ago?

 

[Big Johnny]

My dad owned a dive shop back in the 60's early 70's in Key Largo at MM 101. The Wee Dive Shop. I was still young at the time, but I do remember Carl Gage, Steve Kline, Mel Fisher, Bill Filer. My dad (Jack Wickham) made Power Heads, Bang Sticks, Hawaiian Slings in the back of the Dive Shop. I also remember them all talking about the Atocha, back in the day. If I remember right Carl, had some sort of Sub in front of his shop. In 68 or 69 my mom was one of the models on the brochure for Pennekamp. Marlin Perkins once came into the shop to buy Power Heads. My dad had me work on breathing through a regulator in the water tank used to cool the tanks during refill. I went to Key Largo Elementry. We left in '75, because my dad wanted to move closer to his family. In my heart I never really forgave him for moving us, to of all places, LA, Lower Alabama.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Didn't [-]there [/-] their son work for Horizon Divers a few years ago?

Yes. And he worked for Amy Slate, then became a substitute captain for most of the KL dive shops as he built up his yacht surveying business. He's like a brother to me.

EDIT: Mike is also the captain who found that kayak that drifted up from Caymans.

 

[RickI]

Great information and story, thanks for posting it! The change from early 1970's Key Largo to today along US HWY 1 is pretty impressive all by itself. The main things I remember were all the elkhorn coral and clear water. It seemed endless along the fore reef.

I recall an early trip to Key West for a conference between treasure salvors, State Div. of Archives Archaeologists/staff and other interested parties in 1976. Had a lot of famous figures in wreck salvage there including Art McKee, Mel and many other active guys from back in the day. There was a lot of friction between the Div. of Archives and some of the salvors at the time. Key West was an even stranger place back then.

Regarding the Atocha, I had a dropout from the one and only grad course I ever taught on Coastal Zone Assessment at Nova Ocean Sciences. He quit to become a captain with Mel and was running the boat when the stern section was found with a good deal of the treasure. Quitting school can pay, sometimes!

My dad owned a dive shop back in the 60's early 70's in Key Largo at MM 101. The Wee Dive Shop. I was still young at the time, but I do remember Carl Gage, Steve Kline, Mel Fisher, Bill Filer. My dad (Jack Wickham) made Power Heads, Bang Sticks, Hawaiian Slings in the back of the Dive Shop. I also remember them all talking about the Atocha, back in the day. If I remember right Carl, had some sort of Sub in front of his shop. In 68 or 69 my mom was one of the models on the brochure for Pennekamp. Marlin Perkins once came into the shop to buy Power Heads. My dad had me work on breathing through a regulator in the water tank used to cool the tanks during refill. I went to Key Largo Elementry. We left in '75, because my dad wanted to move closer to his family. In my heart I never really forgave him for moving us, to of all places, LA, Lower Alabama.

 

[ONESPEED]

Had turtle only once in Cozumel in 1973 with John Fletemyer, a local turtle conservationists at the time.

Wow, mega flashback. A good buddy of mine used to tag turtles for John Fletemyer many moons ago. I used to help him out, really good times.

 

[ONESPEED]

So who remembers when Force E was Nautilus Dive Shop?

 

[joystershell]

So who remembers when Force E was Nautilus Dive Shop?

I do!

So, anybody ever do business at the shop on Oakland Park, before the big fire?

 

[RickI]

Did you do this off Broward County? We used to do this along sections of beach in Hallandale and Pompano with John when we were in high school in the early 1970's. Lots of walking (5 miles + a night) and slogging excavated nests around in trash cans before he got his first 4x4 truck!

Wow, mega flashback. A good buddy of mine used to tag turtles for John Fletemyer many moons ago. I used to help him out, really good times.

 

[DebbyDiver]

So who remembers when Force E was Nautilus Dive Shop?

Me!

So, anybody ever do business at the shop on Oakland Park, before the big fire?

Yes, and I remember the huge storm that precipitated the fire.